On December 24, 2021, I visited Taiwan Ken located at 2-95 Kitamachi, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, in the Yamakura building, 1F. This branch opened in November 2016. The menu included "Hellish Taiwan Noodles," garlic fried rice, a half portion of stir-fried green vegetables, and Mikawa soy sauce fried chicken. I ordered the noodles with firm noodles and garlic. The soup was incredibly spicy—it's at a level where you need to be careful while slurping the noodles, or you'll cough. Despite the spiciness, the dish was still quite delicious. The firm noodles had a great texture and didn’t become soft even after a while, which I appreciated. The garlic fried rice was loaded with garlic, and given that I also ordered garlic in the noodles, the smell was quite strong. The stir-fried greens had a rich flavor, and the juicy fried chicken was excellent. Overall, it was a highly satisfying Chinese restaurant with reasonable prices and great taste.

After watching an event at Toyota Stadium, I entered a restaurant and was quickly shown to a counter seat. Since the main dish seems to be Taiwanese minced meat, it looks like the Taiwanese mixed noodles do not come with a side of rice, so I ordered a set with dumplings (5 pieces) and medium rice. The mixed noodles were quite spicy even at the standard level, and I ended up sweating a lot. I wish I had ordered a small rice instead of medium.

We had beer, snacks, and finished with ramen, all for a total of 6,204 yen, which is very reasonable. The snacks included Taiwan minced potato cheese, high-calorie dumplings, Taiwanese boiled eggs, fried chicken wings, snack-style menma, and the ramen was Nagoya-style miso Taiwanese men! The spiciness was just right. It's a great place for an affordable evening drink!

I went at 5:30 PM, and it was very empty. I had the special ramen, and the curly noodles paired perfectly with the spicy broth, making it very delicious. The highlight was definitely the pork shoulder—it was tender and full of flavor. The Taiwanese-style marinated egg was also tasty.

I visited for lunch on a weekday. It's great that when you order noodles, you get a small rice for free. Additionally, you can take advantage of the free toppings for LINE friends. Today, I added extra noodles for an additional 100 yen. This amount feels just right for me! 😊

On this day, I came to Toyota Stadium to cheer for my local J-League team, Nagoya Grampus. Wow, Toyota Stadium is quite far! Originally, Nagoya's home stadium was Mizuhō Stadium, but it's currently under renovation for the Asian Games. Well, due to sponsors' intentions, Toyota Stadium has been serving as Grampus's home stadium lately. I planned to meet my friend at Toyota Station after having lunch, so I looked around for a nearby restaurant and decided to enter "Taiwan Ken-san," which caught my eye. I ordered the "Golden Premium Taiwan Noodles" for 935 yen (tax included) with a large size for an additional 110 yen. When I placed my order on the tablet, I specified "firm noodles." The thick, curly noodles had a nice chewy texture and were delicious. The Taiwanese minced meat was quite meaty and tasty as well. The "premium" version comes with toppings like chashu (braised pork), menma (bamboo shoots), and a boiled egg, which isn’t typical for Taiwanese ramen. While it's nice to have them, it might have been better to go for a regular bowl and choose a lunch set for better value. Unlike the Taiwan ramen you typically find at local Chinese restaurants, this one felt carefully prepared. I was a bit worried because it took a while for the ramen to arrive, but it showed up just in time for our meeting. It was a long-awaited delicious bowl of Taiwan ramen. Thank you for the meal!

I visited a bustling restaurant near the train station after hearing about it. I ordered the gyoza and the stir-fried liver with garlic chives set meal. While these may not have been the recommended dishes, I was left disappointed. The gyoza was dry, and I had to slather on a lot of the provided chili oil to make it edible. As for the stir-fried liver, it was mostly filled with bean sprouts, which left me feeling unsatisfied. However, the rich sauce used for seasoning was indeed addictive, and I could understand why this place was popular.

During a weekday lunch, I had a meal at Taiwan Ken. I ordered my usual Taiwan noodles with a small rice and used my member-exclusive free topping to increase the Taiwanese minced meat. Plus, I even received some dumplings as a thank-you for filling out a survey, making it an incredibly good deal. I got so caught up in all that that I accidentally ordered the Taiwan noodles without spiciness. I thought it would be a mistake, but surprisingly, it was easy to eat and quite good! 😊

Today, I randomly decided to pop into a restaurant after work because I was really hungry. Since it was only 5:00 PM, there were just two other customers in the place besides me. I ordered the garlic chives and liver set meal, which was a great deal at ¥750 for the portion size. While I can overlook the quality of the liver dish for that price, I wish the rice had been a bit better.

I felt comfortable visiting this restaurant near Toyota City because it has several branches, but unfortunately, the Taiwanese ramen with the fried rice set and the fried chicken set were not very tasty. Since it's a chain restaurant, they probably focus more on handling a large number of customers, but after this third visit, I feel like I won't go again. By the way, they offer a 10% discount coupon, which suggests they are hoping for repeat customers, but even with the large portion, the rice was small, making it not great value for money.

I made the broth of my Taiwanese ramen extremely spicy. The first sip made me cough (laughs). The curly noodles, garlic chives, and ground meat go perfectly with the super spicy broth. The fried rice that came with it was also just right for the spicy soup. By the end, I got used to the spicy broth and ended up drinking it all. Garlic chives really complement Taiwanese ramen as well.

I ventured into the izakaya scene around Toyoda City Station, and my first stop was this place. I've typically roamed the streets of student districts in Kyoto and Nagoya's Imaike for my drinking and dining experiences. Now that I have some ties to Toyoda, I've set out to explore its culinary landscape, but to be honest, the cost of living is high here. Whether drinking or dining, prices for comparable establishments are steeper than in Nagoya. Compared to Kyoto, it's tricky to judge as there are variations, but it does feel pricier than the student districts. It's not just dining; even supermarkets, electronics stores, and home centers have relatively high prices in Toyoda. When I want to go out for a feast, I'm less concerned about cost, but for everyday casual dining and drinking, it makes a noticeable impact. My taste buds, ingrained with the Kansai idea that "being cheap is a good thing" and "the cheaper it is, the more delicious it tastes," find this regional price difference to be somewhat distracting. With that in mind, I was on the lookout for an izakaya suitable for regular visits. A week ago, I stopped by this restaurant for a late lunch and had their chilled Taiwanese ramen. During that visit, the very friendly staff member mentioned that they operate as an izakaya at night and that it's one of the cheaper options in the area, which tends to attract a lot of customers. (I did have an embarrassing moment forgetting my hat, though.) The following weekend, I decided to check this place out with a friend. I entered with the preconception that it might be a "generic version of Misen" (a popular Taiwanese restaurant). The menu had a vibe reminiscent of that. We ordered several dishes, including gyoza (the regular, non-spicy kind), jellyfish, stir-fried greens, stir-fried clams, and spicy menma. Notably, both the jellyfish and menma portions were generous. I had initially imagined some light appetizers, but we were served hearty portions. After about three hours of drinking, it was just enough to finish off what was left. The jellyfish had a somewhat spicy, crunchy texture that was tasty. The menma was also spicy, but personally, I didn't care for it much. It had a uniform flavor that felt overwhelmed by umami seasoning, and its large portion size made it somewhat tiresome halfway through. So if you’re choosing between the two, I'd recommend the jellyfish. The gyoza was similar to what you get during lunch at the restaurant. There’s nothing particularly special about it, but it's consistently good. You can also customize the quantity, which is nice. As for the clams, they were a bit early in the season, but they were still delicious. Again, nothing extraordinary, but a reliable taste. The stir-fried greens were the same – gentle and easy to eat compared to what I expected. I had mentioned my preconceived notion of a generic Misen earlier, but in reality, it turned out quite different. The flavors were more approachable and smoother than Misen’s. For drinks, I had a draft beer for the first round and then a Dragon Highball. As a fan of Shaoxing wine, I appreciated having the Dragon Highball option. I would love it if they could serve warm Shaoxing wine in the winter… We drank well, and to finish off, I ordered the chilled Taiwanese ramen again, which I had enjoyed during lunch. It's nice to be able to order ramen after drinking. For dessert, we shared a freshly made sesame ball, which was delicious. All of this came in at under 6,000 yen for the two of us. That's a bargain. So, I've successfully discovered one affordable izakaya around Toyoda City Station for regular use, and I hope to explore more. By the way, I actually wanted to try my favorites like sweet and sour pork and stir-fried liver with garlic chives, but I just couldn't fit them in. That's my goal for the next visit.

A late lunch. It seems there are very few options for a late lunch around Toyoda City Station. I'm still exploring the area, but most places close their lunch services by 13:30 or 14:00, making it rare to find a place to eat after 14:00. One such place I found is this restaurant, which serves lunch until 15:00, a bit later than nearby options. It was my first visit, but the staff were very kind and provided lots of information. It was surprisingly well-organized for a cheap ramen shop. I usually stick to what I consider the standard menu item for a new restaurant, but the Taiwanese cold noodles looked really appealing, so I broke my rule and ordered them. Taiwanese cold noodles. Despite the name, it’s actually one of Nagoya's local dishes. You probably can’t eat this in Taiwan. It’s a cold version of the dish, perfect for summer. The noodles are standard cold noodle types, not particularly special and might be considered cheap. The broth is refreshing and light, perfect for these scorching hot days. It has a hint of sourness that makes you want to keep eating. At first bite, it doesn't seem very spicy. There’s a pleasant warmth and a refreshing tang that sweeps through your mouth. This is delicious. It’s exactly the kind of noodle you want to eat on a hot day. I found myself alternating between eating gyoza and rice while continuously being drawn back to the broth. However, the spiciness crept up on me. I underestimated it. It was spicy. At first, it felt fine, like a refreshing dish that revived a heat-weary zombie. But then it struck back with a vengeance. The broth that I kept spooning into my mouth turned out to be a curse of capsaicin, igniting a fiery sensation from within. I was sweating profusely, beads of sweat dripping down like red wax. Yet, I couldn’t stop scooping the broth. The juice from biting into the chives seemed to help mellow the heat a bit. This is spicy. It’s a real struggle against the spice, yet it’s tasty. It may have a cheap kind of deliciousness, but the umami and sourness of the broth, along with the vegetables like cucumber and chives, are heightened by the intense spiciness. It was enjoyable. I learned from the staff that this Taiwanese cold noodle will only be available until the end of September since it’s a summer menu item. I hope to come back and enjoy it while I still have the chance.

It's just a short walk from Toyota City Station. I went for a solo drink, and it was an ideal place that was affordable, quick, and delicious. I was particularly impressed by the variety of single-serving menu items available. I was satisfied with being able to enjoy a few recommended snacks. The Taiwanese ramen and other dishes offered a wide range, so I look forward to trying different dishes next time.

This was my first visit. Since it's a storefront near the station, there was a bit of difficulty with parking. I had the lunch special, which was a set of Taiwanese noodles and fried rice. The shop's sign and menu seemed to take inspiration from a certain izakaya chain in Nagoya, but the Taiwanese noodles had an originality that stood out. The taste of the broth and the texture of the noodles were both great, making it something I could easily get hooked on. It’s no surprise that the ratings are so high.

I ordered the seafood broth Taiwanese noodles for 740 yen, a small rice, and a set of 5 gyoza for an additional 190 yen. The saltiness is quite strong. Personally, I recommend the Taiwanese mixed noodles that I had last time. The gyoza is very delicious. I think the prices are reasonable.

Taiwan Ken is a local chain restaurant in Toyota City. If you become a LINE friend, you can choose a free topping every time, and this time I picked a boiled egg. Lunch comes with a free small rice, but it's really just a tiny portion. Personally, I would be very happy if they could increase the rice portion a bit more.

I visited Taiwan Ken at Toyoda City Station, specifically the Toyoda City Station Front Main Store. It's very easy to find, located right in front of the station with a prominent sign, just a minute's walk from the station. I found it through a search on Tabelog. I visited around 2 PM, and there was only me in the restaurant, which made me a bit worried, but I quickly placed my order. I ordered the Taiwan Noodles (spicy) along with a set that included fried rice and gyoza. I requested a half portion for the Taiwan noodles. Getting this for under 1,000 yen is a great deal! As I dug into the famous Taiwan noodles, I thought to myself… wow, this is delicious! The garlic chives have a nice crunch, and the perfect level of spiciness combined with the ground meat is absolutely fantastic. It was tastier than I expected, and I finished the bowl while sweating. The broth was also spicy and I ended up drinking it all, even though I was sweating profusely. The fried rice was tastier than what you usually find at chain restaurants, while the gyoza was just average. I definitely want to come back again. Next time, I’d like to order some beer and snacks as well. It was delicious—thank you for the meal!

I’m on a business trip to Toyota in Aichi. Right after getting off the station, I was looking for a Nagoya-style restaurant, but there aren’t many options in Toyota. I decided to check out a place that’s known for Taiwanese ramen. The atmosphere inside the restaurant is lively, similar to an izakaya at night. I ordered the Taiwanese ramen set, which comes with dumplings and rice. When I had the Taiwanese ramen, I felt it was a bit lacking. The spiciness is moderate, so I added a mountain of garlic and chili. Yum! This is it! It really needs a lot of garlic. Sorry to those I met later during the meeting; this is the reason (laughs). The dumplings are juicy and quite delicious! Oh? I thought about turning the rice into porridge by adding the soup. It turned out to be incredibly tasty! I would have loved to visit the izakaya at night, but I went to another place instead. Thank you for the meal!!!

This is the famous Taiwan Men restaurant, run by Ken from Taiwan. During lunch hours, you get a small serving of rice for free. There are various lunch menu options available, but the portion of noodles is a bit smaller, so if you have a big appetite, I recommend paying an extra 100 yen for a large serving of noodles. You can choose your spice level, but even the regular level can make you sweat quite a bit. If you register as a friend on LINE, you can order a free topping.